Category Archives: Marijuana Use

The evidence is quite clear now – yes, many people are becoming addicted to weed. It happens in greater numbers among those who start young, but it can happen to anyone. Once you’re addicted, the whole shape of your life begins to shift around to focus on the use of weed. You may not even realize you’ve become addicted. To find out, check your answers to these ten questions. 1. Have you abandoned activities you once enjoyed, such as sports, art, music, writing or traveling? Research has validated the fact that marijuana brings about mental changes that can negatively affect…

Some People Still Don’t Think They Exist Will marijuana cause withdrawal symptoms if a person quits using it, like other drugs do? There are many people who claim that there are no withdrawal symptoms and that the drug isn’t addictive. You may have heard these two claims repeated over and over again. However, both of these claims are false. There is plenty of documentation that marijuana is, indeed, addictive and that one does experience withdrawal symptoms after quitting use. Here’s why you may have heard both claims in the same breath, so to speak. The classic definition of addiction includes…

By now, most people know that marijuana has gotten far more potent over the last few decades. Here is a chart showing the average potency of marijuana between the mid-1990s and 2013. Between the 1970s and the 1990s, the potency rose from about 1.5% to 4% but then the growth really took off. By 2013, average potency was nearly 13%. These potency numbers are obtained by testing samples of drugs seized by law enforcement. Note that medical marijuana businesses promote much higher potencies for their products, of-ten in the 25% to 30% range. Those who feel that marijuana should be…

If you follow the news about drug legalization as presented by the mainstream media, you are likely to be mightily confused. Well-paid spin doctors work overtime to fill major media, blogs, magazines, television and radio with pro-legalization messages. Messages of compassion are used to pluck the heartstrings of moms and dads – no one wants small children to suffer from seizures. Can cannabis really cure cancer? Is pot really harmless and non-addicting? Billboards, bus signs, professional speakers, bloggers, late night television show appearances, even cannabis cooking recipes infiltrate our personal worlds every day in any state where a vote is…

When marijuana is compared to other drugs, it’s often said that you can’t overdose on pot. It’s true that there are seldom direct deaths from using the drug. There’s a couple of men in Germany who died when cannabis triggered heart complications. A woman in the UK died from a cardiac arrest triggered by marijuana toxicity. A French study stated, “Practitioners should be aware that cannabis may be a potential triggering factor for cardiovascular complications in young people,” but it stopped short of saying that marijuana caused these deaths. So when marijuana deaths are listed, the cases above appear on…

At this point, more than twenty states and the District of Columbia have approved the use of marijuana for medical use. While we may agree that there are a few medicinal benefits to cannabis, it is obvious that all the effects of this drug are not yet known. Some of these effects are likely to be damaging – perhaps creating lasting and even disabling damage. What is sad is that many people will use this drug without a true medical justification or they’ll use it recreationally and not be aware of the harmful side of the drug. This dual nature…

Washington State Investigates Increase of Disastrous Birth Defect – One Associated with Early Pregnancy Use of Marijuana This year, the news media has been reporting on the increase of a particular disastrous birth defect appearing in Washington State – anencephaly. This refers to babies born without a brain or with only part of a brain. In nearly every case, the baby dies within hours or is stillborn. According to these news reports, a nursing instructor noticed the increased incidence of anencephaly and reported it to state officials. Parents who had babies born with this defect have been questioned but doctors…

In states where marijuana is up for legalization for either medical or recreational use, it can be very difficult to decipher the truth about this drug. Those in favor of increased use describe the harmless, even therapeutic nature of the drug. Those against tell a different tale. A new study from the UK shines a bright new light directly on the damage that results from use of this drug. The study was published by Dr. Wayne Hall of King’s College London, who has carried out this study over a twenty-year period. He reports that that this drug is, indeed, addictive…

For the first time since 2003, workplace drug tests took a jump. This is according to Quest Diagnostics, a company performing workplace drug tests across the country. In all, more than eight million workplace drug tests contributed to the most recent Quest Diagnostics database. Their results showed that in 2012, the rate of positive tests was 3.5% of all workplace tests. In 2013, that rate rose to 3.7%. That constituted a 6.7% increase. While that may not seem to be an extraordinary increase, consider this: In Colorado, the first year that recreational use of marijuana was legalized, the rate increased…

In Denver in July 2014, there was a serious traffic accident caused by a young female driver who was driving impaired. According to her statements to police after the accident, she had drunk one beer and smoked “a bowl”of marijuana before driving. She was speeding down Colfax Avenue – a 30 mph zone – at 60 miles per hour. When she ran a red light, she crashed into another car and caused six people to be injured. She now has to appear in court to answer to charges of driving impaired and vehicular assault. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration…